Partners in Crime
by EtherealDreamCloud
Summary: Shelly one day decided to help Woody with his playing pranks on his neighbour Roger. He finally agreed after she made a lot of persuasion and pleading. However, practical jokes are new to her. And on top of that, Roger's mother is visiting which makes things more difficult. How will things go? Horribly or smoothly? That is only up to Woody and Shelly.
1. Signing a contract

**Author's note: Oh, my gosh... I'm so done...**

 **Yup, it's a multi-chaptered fanfic that's actually _FREAKING FINISHED!_ **

**However, it's probably my crummiest work I've ever written... and there are good excuses for it, and one of them is that this is the first time I tried at something romance-related. It was challenging as _HELL_...**

 **Ironically enough... "Psychological Project" was my first attempt at writing horror (my least favourite genre), but it's way better and I had no problems with it. Welp... I think I may have a serious problem...**

 **But what I'm trying to say is that this is pretty flawed and forced. I'm only posting this because I wanted at least one fanfic about Woody and Shelly.**

 **Also, I've worked hard on this, but rarely due to lack of motivation.**

 **The idea behind the fanfic is because of one old comment I've got on Facebook, which was "She should trick the neighbour's mom" but since it wouldn't work well I've gotten around it.**

 **Sorry for the long note. I'll let you read the actual story now...**

* * *

Woody and Shelly were in front the film studio. She was going to sign her first (but temporary) contract with director Joe Deen. When he openened the door, he gestured to her to go after him.

They were in the capacious hall, Joe was sitting in his chair and was just finished a significant discussion with his crew.

After noticing the two, he smiled.

"Hello, you two!" Joe greeted them "I've been expecting you!"

"Joe, my buddy! How's it going?" he asked, smiling back.

"Things are going great!" said Joe "I know why you're here, so I'll only tell you three important things before I hand you the contract. First of all, battle-axe will be visiting her son today."

'Heh, I figured that would be the case...and I was right.' Woody thought

"Secondly, you have ten tricks to pull on them." the director carried on explaining "And last but not least, since this is Shelly's first time playing pranks and sneaking at all, you..."

"...I have to help her out and not let her out of my sight." the young man cuts him off before finishing his sentence "I would have done those last bits without you telling me anyway."

"Good. Well then, you both just sit down, please."

The director's assistant handed him the contract sheet. Then he handed the paper to Shelly along with a black pen. She signed her name, surname, signature and today's date, and handed it back to Joe afterwards. Shelly is now the co-hostess and partner in mischief for a day!

"We still have a lot of time before the episode starts." Joe noted "But I have more work to do, so we can't really talk longer than this."

"That's alright. We're sort of busy too." said the young man to the director. Then he turned to her "Shelly? Shall we go?"

"Sure." she replied, she was feeling calm and even almost lost in her own world.

"Bye! Have a nice day," said Joe, then he teasingly added to them "you lovebirds."

"Oh, knock it off!" Woody chuckled and rolled his eyes "Well, bye!"

While Shelly winced and blushed in response - she is not used to that kind of tease from others.

After they left the film studio, the assistant questioned Joe why she is so quiet.

"She's just shy." he replied.

"Really? I thought she's snobby!"

'What? How do you confuse shyness with snobbiness?' he wondered.

* * *

Sometime later, they were cuddling close and Shelly put her head on his shoulder.

"Woody?" she uttered his name quietly.

"Yes?"

"I'm really happy I met you..." she confessed, blushing profusely.

"Me too...I'll even admit..."

He rested his hand on her neck and brushed her cheek gently. For some reason however, Shelly turned her head away to see what was...buzzing.

"Umm... Do you hear that?"

"Yeah, and I see it. It's kind of freaking me out right now." he narrowed her eyes to the source of the sound.

It was an evil scary yellow and black striped insect that flies around and stings people for no reason whatsoever. Not to be confused with the fluffy hard-working bug.

Because it was a freaking wasp!

She was so scared, she could not make a single sound. Instead, she instinctively jumped and swiftly ran behind the door to the nearest room. Woody is familiar with her wasp phobia, yet he chuckled at her reaction while the small bug flew around in circles.

"It's not funny..." her voice trembled behind the door "Please, just do something about that satanic spawn... "

Like maybe killing it with fire, before it reproduces? Those things are like tiny villains of nature after all... even if not everyone would agree with that.

"I'll get it!" he ran off to the kitchen to get a jar from a drawer, then came back.

At least, he was not scared of any bugs or spiders... except the Rottweilers of course. The wasp was crawling on the wall, and the young man began sneaking up to it, as if he was about to cause another prank on his fat neighbour Roger. When he was close enough, he prepared himself to capture the wasp. However, it went to his left hand. As soon as it stung his left hand, he dropped the jar while shouting in pain. Thankfully the jar didn't break from the impact on the floor.

"What happened?" she asked, peeking.

"I got caught... that small Clone-of-Rottweiler stung me even though I was planning to catch it, then release it! This is the thanks I get from it?" he was holding his own hand "But don't worry about me, I'll take care of it!"

At any rate, he is right-handed so it should not be too much trouble for him. He picked up the jar again, and followed the insect's movement cautiously.

"Well, well, well..." he said in a dark tone to it "you have the impudence to get on our nerves, Mr. Clone-of-Rottweiler? You're lucky that my patience with you hasn't ended yet!"

Eventually, the wasp landed on the table. Woody tried sneaking closer to it again, then he managed to trap the bug. But maybe... just maybe he should have killed it.

"Shelly, I got it!" he called out to her.

The girl stepped carefully, with her hands shaking.

"Are you sure you got it, Woody?" she said quietly.

"Yes, it hath been caught!" he victoriously raised his right arm "The fearsome beast won't eat you alive anymore, milady!"

She giggled - his sense of humour almost never fails.

"Well, I better try to free this thing out the window."

When he was about to slid some paper under the jar, but the wasp somehow escaped flying quickly. The direction it went was not seen clearly.

"What?! Where did it go?" he was shocked at this, it was quite unexpected. He began searching around the room without hesitating.

"Oh, no... I don't like this at all. I don't like where this it going..." she became anxious again.

Then the young lady noticed it flying around and panicked. It doesn't seem like the wasp even knew where it was going. Either way, it made her cry.

"What happened?" the young man asked with worried expression on his face "Did it stung you?"

"No... but I can't take it anymore." she barely answered.

These words from his distressed beloved made him snap.

'This is the last straw!' he thought angrily 'Wasps are yellow beautiful creations of Nature? That's flying pig nonsense is what it is! And this is the proof!'

He took off one of the closed slippers he was wearing and stood in a battle pose. Eventually, the wasp landed on the wall. Woody tried sneaking closer to it again, then he flicked his wrist quickly down on the bug - a successful strike! Now his main concern was Shelly, so he went up to her. As soon as he got close to her, she warped her arms around him and buried her face in his embrace as she sobbed.

"It's okay, it's all over..." Woody comforted her.

He continued to do so until she calmed down at least a little.

"How are you now?" he asked her.

"Kind of better..." she barely responded.

"I'll get myself an ice pack. Do you need anything else?"

"No... that's fine." she replied while thinking 'You went through enough trouble for me already anyway.'

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting on the couch again and just done watching one of the previous episodes of "Neighbours from Hell" again. He took the ice pack to put it away in the kitchen.

"Did you miss me?" after a few moments, he returned jestingly saying this.

Shelly would've went along with the joke, but she was still recovering. So instead she only giggled at the joke. It may take about an hour or two for her to recover completely. Woody put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him.

"By the way, what were you about to say earlier?"

"Well...I was about to say..."

His voice trailed off. Shelly was patiently waiting what he is about to say whilst gazing into his blue eyes - they seem serene and captivating to her.

"Every single time I see you, I fall in love with you, all over again. I don't care if I'm being cheesier than a pizza." he nervously spoke those words somewhat hastily "I love you..."

"It's not cheesy..." she felt her face blushing bright red at his confession "I love you too..."

They slowly move closer to one another as they meet in a soft kiss.

* * *

 **(New) author's note: I updated one part of this chapter according to an opinion by my friend Dik-LEN-vaY. So I wrote that one part in such a way to make the wasp even more unlikable, while making Woody and Shelly more likable. Yeah... because of a yellow tiny villain of Nature...**

 **Well, I'm still keeping the old version of the chapter, just in case.**

 **Update: I changed it again because of a suggestion by my other friend SailorRaybloomDZ. Because it apparently didn't add up to her. Am I this bad at writing?**


	2. Don't go anywhere alone!

It was nearly time before the episode starts. Woody, Shelly, director Joe and camera crew were in front of the small metal gate of Roger's house. They were almost done with the preparations. Although, one would wonder why Shelly was carrying a backpack.

"What's with the backpack?" Woody could not help but ask.

"You'll find out soon enough..." she tried to hide her smile.

"Oh... sounds like it's going to be very interesting!" said the prankster, grinning.

"Well then, are you ready to start the episode?" Joe asked them.

"I am!" the prankster replied, then he turned to her "What about you, Shell?"

"Me too... I think... "

"You can change your mind, you know... "

"Yeah, but I'm not going to do that! L-let me do this at least once!"

"Okay... I won't stop you." then he turned to the director and the camera crew "Let the show begin!"

One of the crew adjusted the camera and turned it on.

"Hello once again, audience! Today's episode of 'Neighbours from Hell' will be... a bit different to say the least." Woody explains "Because we have another neighbour who'll help me out for the day. I'd like to introduce you to my other neighbour, the lovely co-hostess Shelly Haward!"

The viewers cheered.

"H-Hello!" she forced herself to be loud, knowing that her normal tone is too quiet.

He noticed that she was feeling nervous, so he jokingly continued:

"Rottweiler will know some new good jokes... doesn't matter if he likes them or not!"

Shelly laughed at his wit - looks like her tension was eased.

"And by the way, this may or may not be the only time Shelly participates in our show." said Woody "Now let's sneak in!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Roger just went into the living room where his mother Georgina was watching TV.

"Momma!" he called "There's a guy in my room who looks exactly like me! He even mocks me by doing everything I do... stupid ugly freak of nature!"

"Umm... you just saw yourself in the mirror, Rodge!" she pointed out "Yeah... you just insulted yourself... "

"Dang it!" he mumbled, as he rubbed his forehead from frustration.

"If it makes you feel better, the potato soup's almost ready."

"Great! But I'll still go check on it..." he said while walking to the kitchen

"Okay, but don't even think about eating the sweets first!" she yelled at him "You'll ruin your appetite!"

"I hear you, I hear you!" he yelled back.

After entering the kitchen, Roger lift the lid slightly to see how is the food. He figured it was okay. Then his attention was caught by the porcelain jar which was filled with Oreo biscuits. There was also a bottle of beer, a can of whip cream and a glass jug of leftover coffee near the jar.

'Just one won't hurt' the fatso thought while slowly taking a biscuit.

He greedily ate it whole, the taste was indescribable in a good way.

'Don't understand how they ruin an appetite. Still hungry... but I'll wait.' he thought, as he sips some beer.

"Roger!" his mother called.

After hearing her shouting, he panicky ran back into the living room.

"I...I didn't ate any sweets, I swear!"

"What? It's not that! Forgot to take Fifi for a walk today. Do it instead of me, boy!" she demanded.

"I don't like the little mutt much..." he murmured "...but okay, I have to take Mort outside too anyway."

Afterwards, the fatso went upstairs where the two dogs were. Mort was napping, while Fifi playfully chews on a rug.

* * *

During that time, Woody and Shelly were in the hallway, they listened to what was going on just now.

"Hey, look. The leashes for the dogs are right there." she uttered, whilst glancing at them lying on the chest of drawers.

"Yeah, though I'm not sure..."

He cut his words off when he opened it to find some superglue and a marker.

"Oh, gee...I wonder what I'd do with this." he was being sarcastic.

The prankster put some superglue on them, whilst he makes sure not to get any on his hands.

"Let's go to the bathroom, before the swine spot us."

He took a hold of her hand and they quickly ran there.

"I can run just fine, thank you..."

"I know, but I didn't want you to fall behind." he replied, whilst taking a tube of toothpaste from the medicine cabinet.

'And you just want to hold my hand, I bet.' she said this in her mind. Then she spoke "I have an idea! Give me that superglue, please!"

After he gave Shelly the superglue, she put some of it on the toilet seat. Why didn't he thought about doing such a simple mischief before? Well, even professionals cannot think of everything.

"By the way, which pranks you think you can't do?" she asked, while they were walking through the hallway.

"Let me think... well... I've always been too chicken to do the ones like: scribble on the face while sleeping."

"The ones where you have to get close to him?"

"Yup... even when I sneaked by him that one time, I felt like he'll wake up any moment and strangle me."

A bit later when he took a handful of spiders from the basement, the two went to the kitchen. There, it took Woody a minute or two to switch the biscuits' frosting with toothpaste. Meanwhile, the girl swaps the beer with a bottle of apple juice which she kept in her backpack, then she swaps around their labels - now the apple juice can be easily mistaken for beer... at least an idiot would do that. What was left for now was to loosen the only salt shaker in the room, and put the spiders in the potato soup, which was what each of them did. The mischievous hero just had another idea when he looked at the leftover coffee and the can of whip cream. So again, he dragged her back to the bathroom with him.

"Look, nothing bad's going to happen to me if you left me just for a minute..."

"I'm not risking it..." he said, whilst pouring the coffee in the upper tank of the toilet "Done! Let's hide for now, in case Baldy McBald comes back."

The two went outside of the room to hide in the wardrobe.

* * *

Roger came back home, slamming furiously the door behind him. He was trying to free his hands that were stuck to the leashes, while Mort and Fifi were running around playfully. Finally, he freed himself, but it was really difficult and painful.

"Okay! Who was the freaking wiseguy who did this?!" he angrily shouted this, then he turned to the pets "Hey! Quit monkeying around or it's the vet for both of you!"

The two canines suddenly stopped and whimpered at his thunderous threat. When he calmed down a little, the fatso went to check on his mother who was a heavy sleeper - she did not even woke up from her son's ridiculously loud yells.

'I'll wake her up when the soup's done.' he thought.

Subsequently, the fatso went back into the kitchen to check the soup - it was ready to serve, but he did not seem to notice the spiders yet. The grump poured it into two bowls, and brought both bowls to the living room.

"Momma!" he called "Your grub's ready!"

Georgina woke up from her nap and took one of the bowls.

"The soup may not have enough salt." she claimed "So go get it!"

It only took him a minute to get the salt and come back in the room. However, when he tried to add a sprinkle of it, the cap fell off and whole thing poured into his bowl. The grump growled audibly, and he would facepalm at what just happened if his hands were not full.

"Well, that's your fault..." Georgina murmured at him "You can't even tighten a freaking salt shaker! Good luck dealing with a salty bad luck... "

When the old hag was about to taste the "grub", she saw a six-legged small monster trying to crawl out of the spoon... it was a spider! Georgina shrieked at the sight of it and violently threw the spoon at her son.

"Doing this to the one who raised you ain't funny, you dunce!"

"But..." Roger groaned from pain.

"No 'buts', mister!" she continued scolding him "At least go get some sweets from the jar!"

"Aye aye, momma..." his voice was barely audible.

Roger stomped back to the other room, and put some of the Oreo biscuits on a plate. He decided to wash down his misery to some "beer".

"What's this pigsty?!" he crossly questioned the situation "Who the Hell would replace my favourite drink with yucky apple juice?!"

After that, the grouch irritably threw the bottle through the window, which caused a car's alarm system to go off. He does not give a single flying care about it.

"Come on! Bring the flipping biscuits already, dang it!" the old hag shouted from the living room.

He walked there with the plate.

"Freaking finally..." she mumbled, as she takes one of them.

"I had a 'small' problem, okay?" he replied.

"Whatever..."

The Rottweilers almost simultaneously put the toothpaste-flavoured sweets in their mouths, and just as fast they spat them out from disgust.

"Right... if you do something like this twice, you're getting slapped!" Georgina spoke through her teeth "Look, I even try to be patient with you this time, so you better thank me!"

"But momma, I'm trying to tell you that I ain't doing any of this!" Roger tried to convince her.

"I don't see anyone else in the house, but you and our dogs!" she said "Forget your stupid mutt... are you **blaming my Fifi?!** "

"No! That ain't it!"

"Then get lost! I'll be taking my beauty sleep again!"

The grump aggrievedly trudged to the bathroom. A bit later, when he was fully done with his "business" he attempted to stand up, but to no avail... his rear was stuck to the seat. Roger tried again and again, but ended up breaking the seat away from the toilet itself, though not from his rear. So he attempted to tear it away yet again.

Though after he finally did it, it was worse when he had to free his hands from the dog leashes. Afterwards, he just wanted to flush the toilet. Instead of cleaning away, it worsened. Because of the caffeine deed done earlier by a certain someone, it looked like... something disgustingly putrid.

"Why?!" the reaction on his face was mostly confusion and shock.

The grump started swearing deafeningly, even a sailor would fail to compete with him. Despite being upset, he made some effort to fix the toilet, but to no success.

"Whatever... I'll try to fix it later..." he muttered, as he trudged all the way to his room so he could have some undeserved rest.


	3. That happened

The hallway was empty and quiet, Woody opened the wardrobe's door faintly. His gaze shifted left and right.

"The coast is clear..." he stated softly.

When he and Shelly got out of it, they let out their repressed laughter and high-fived. They also both comment on how idiotic the Rottweilers are.

"Anyway, that's seven tricks so far." he counted them, after they both simmered down a little.

"Well, that's a surprise... I thought I was slowing you down." she said, feeling a little uneasy.

"Hey, don't say that! That was pretty impressive!" he smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

"Thanks..." she rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish grin.

Woody knows which are the next pranks, but... he is not sure if he could pull them off... considering that they will be the ones he is afraid to do.

'Of course I can!' he mentally told himself 'I'm a Master of Mischief with capital M's!'

"Something wrong?"

"It's nothing. We'll just get to the next ones."

The mischievous hero, opened the door of the living room - Georgina was still sleeping there.

"You stay behind the door... I'll be done in a moment." he said to her.

Then he grabbed some duster that was lying against the wall nearby, and he crept across the room as if he was in a lion's cage. It took a few moments for Shelly to realize what he was up to. Worrying for him made her feel like a cat on hot bricks...

It was not any better for Woody though, he started scribbling on the elderly woman's face, sprayed the whipped cream on to her open-hands.

He leaned over the sofa, and with the duster in his shaky hand, he tickled her nose. Immediately, the prankster dashed behind the door with the speed of a certain blue hedgehog. Her nose twitched, raising her hand to her face to brush away the object that was bothering her in her sleep.

*Splat!* went the cream, smearing all over Georgina's ugly face.

Exactly when the old crone was waking up, he closed the door and leaned against it.

"Phew... That was close." Woody said quietly with a sigh "But we still have to hide again just in case."

* * *

Georgina found herself with whip cream smeared on her face. She stomped all the way upstairs to her son's room.

"Wake the freaking Hell up!" she screamed in his ear.

That scared Roger so much, he jumped right up to the ceiling and hit his head, then fell back down.

"W-what h-happened to your face, momma?" he asked, stuttering.

"That's what I want to know, you dunce!" his mother exclaimed angrily.

"Don't know but wasn't me, I swear!"

"You're getting slapped just for that tone, mister!"

After these words, she slapped him twice across the face.

"If you don't want me to be too mad at you then take the dogs for a walk again! My Fifi needs plenty of fresh air!"

"Fine..." he replied under his breath.

After awhile, Roger went outside to walk Fifi and Mort, and Georgina managed to wash off the mixed mess of whip cream and marker scribbles.

* * *

"It's safe again..." Woody whispered.

"Honestly, you gave me a mini heart-attack! You were being reckless a few minutes ago!" Shelly scolded him after they stepped out of the wardrobe.

"Sorry, but it had to be done. If couldn't do it now, then when would I?" he explained "Besides you're here as well, so you're being reckless too."

"Point taken..." she sighed "but I have the feeling you're going to sink another cruise ship while you're on it or something."

"That's... stretching it a bit, because I wouldn't go that far." he doubted that.

Yes... yes, he would! Even he does not know himself well enough!

"Anyway, I'll show you something." Shelly rummaged through her backpack and found what she was looking for.

The thing has carrots attached together with black Scotch tape, and a functional small clock glued in the middle.

"Is that... what I think it is?" the prankster became curious.

"It only looks like it..." she said, smiling.

"That seems... really cruel" Woody paused for a moment, and then his eyes brightened "and it's so genius! I love it!"

"It's not my idea though..."

"Does it matter? You've put an effort into recreating it!" he praised her, patting her shoulder.

The girl felt a blush working its way up to her cheeks, while Woody chuckled at her reaction.

"There's just one thing missing to this trick..." he added "and I definitely know how to perfect it, Shell!" the prankster then held up his mobile phone "And let's just say... those two will have their minds **blown** , even if it's a false alarm!"

She clearly understood what he meant, and they both laughed mischievously.

* * *

Sometime later, Roger returned from the walk grumpy again, even though nothing bad happened to him this time... yet. Exactly then, his old rotary phone rang. He picked it up.

"Hullo?" he spoke "Who's this?!"

"Greetings, this is the mayor of Vienna speaking." it was Woody whilst making his voice sound different, and right now he and the girl were both in the bathroom "Is this the Rottweiler residence?"

"Umm... yes? Why?"

"We are warning you, that there is a **dynamite** hidden in your house." he gave a fake explanation.

 **"D-d-dynamite?!"** the neighbour stammered.

"Yes, we do not know who set it, but all we ask you is to calmly evacuate..."

The prankster got cut off by Roger instantly running around - panicking and screaming. Woody hung up only slightly confused, although he expected such a reaction from him. Shelly was trying to hold back her laughs.

* * *

In the living room, the neighbour slammed the door behind him.

"What the flipping heck's wrong with you, today?!" it was so noisy it even rudely awakened Georgina.

"Momma, we've to get out of the house, fast! There's a dynamite that's about to go **boom** any second!"

"What you talking about?! There's no dynamite anywhere near!"

Right at that moment, Roger found the so called "dynamite" that was shoved

"Then explain this!" he showed it to her.

Georgina grabbed it away from him and stared at it for a few seconds.

"That ain't a dynamite, you idiot! Those are just carrots!" she corrected him.

"That's even worse!" he cringed "I freaking hate carrots!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Woody and Shelly made sure the coast is clear, since all the mischief was done for today.

"You?!" however, the Rottweilers found them.

"Uh, oh..." they both looked at each other, frightened from the monsters.

"And what are **you** doing **with him**?!" the old hag grabbed the girl by the arm, and looked at her crossly.

The shocked mischievous hero immediately took action - he picked up a board from the chest of drawers (it was somewhat broken) and hit the old hag's arm with it.

"Trickster!" Roger yelled at him "How dare you do that to-!"

"Get away from Shelly, you oafs!" Woody interrupted him by threateningly waving the board.

Despite acting bravely, he was still feeling afraid out of his mind and that can be noticed of how he was shaking like a leaf.

'What are you doing?! Don't sacrifice yourself, you dummy!' if Shelly was not feeling so frightened she would have said this to him.

The Rottweilers stood there silent for a few seconds, then burst into laughter.

"Oh, and what **you** going to do, shrimp?" asked the geezer mockingly "A short little loser like you isn't even fair game!"

The young man felt a lump in his throat, he is unsure what to say as a comeback. If the duo were to run away, they will just get caught... despite the fact that the front door was near. Now he would even try any absurd ideas for distraction and escape.

"Hey, Shell" he whispered to her "hand me your backpack..."

Then Woody turned to the two old oafs.

"You see this? The **real** dynamite's inside this!" and showed them the backpack menacingly "If I throw this, it'll blow up the whole house!"

"There's no re-" Shelly was about to say so otherwise, but he covered her mouth with his hand.

"You're lying!" both Rottweilers said in one voice.

"Well, that's you're call" he slowly shook his head "but if I were you, wouldn't take the risk! Just ask poor Wile E. Coyote..."

Again, the old oafs stood there quietly. When the young man taunted them by pretending like he was about to throw it, the Rottweilers backed away. This gave an opportunity for Woody and Shelly to walk away backwards to the front door. They both sighed heavily from relief when they reached the front metal gate, and the two could not believe how the fat idiots fell for the last unintended prank. Of course, Woody had to say a few last words to the viewers before ending today's episode.

"I hope that happening didn't made you think negatively about the episode, folks. We did our very best! And like I said earlier, Shelly may not participate in another episode. Anyway, this was your host Woody Trickster, and..."

He paused himself on purpose, and gently nudged her to make her say something.

"Y-your c-co-hostess Shelly Haward!"

"And you we're ending **'Neighbours from Hell'** for today! Goodbye!" and he waved.

Director Joe ordered to the camera crew to stop filming.

"Nice job, you two!" he praised them.

"Wait, wait... we got caught after we successfully have done all the dirty tricks..." Woody pointed out "So... does that count as a victory?"

"Well, that definitely didn't happened before, but somehow I expected something like this." Joe scratched his head "And if you ask me it counts as a 'no win, no lose' thing. But because of the extra pranks and the lucky escape from them, then it's a 'win-win' situation! Besides, this was probably the most unique episode we ever aired!"

Joe paused for moment and glanced at Shelly.

"By the way, Woody, I thought you said she's absent-minded!"

"She really is. If I left her do all the pranks by herself, she'll get lost in her thoughts and wander aimlessly through the house. Then-"

She interrupted him by pinching his hand lightly.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Just so you know, even **you** had your 'What was I doing here?' moments, Mr. Trickster." she teased him.

Woody blushed from embarrassment, while the director chuckled at them.

"What I was saying" then he continued talking "is that she has a potential of being a great prankster."

"No thanks! I'm not doing this again!" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"That's okay, nobody's forcing you." said Joe "Now that reminds me, your contract has ended."

"Can I keep it?" she asked.

"Sure." he replied, while he hands over the useless contract to her "Well then, me and the others will pack up the equipment, put them in the van and leave!"

"Want any help?" Woody offered.

"Thanks, but there's no need for that!" the director replied "You two are probably more tired than we are, but you can keep us company!"

Once Joe and the crew were fully done and got on the van, the chauffeur drive off. It was a tiring, but fun episode. It was not the end of the day, though.


	4. That finally ended!

Director Joe and the camera team left the neighbourhood, after they were completely finished for the day. Woody and Shelly are now alone, they could talk about anything.

"Hey, I'm sorry for worrying you" he said, looking into her bright, beautiful brown eyes.

"It's okay, I should have more faith in you... After all, I'm not a master of mischief to know how to play good prank or trying a new one..."

"The things I do are nothing special, and neither am I!" he tried to be modest "I'm just used to causing trouble on that next-door stinker!"

"Oh, really?" she raised an eyebrow, teasing him "If I could recall correctly, you boasted about yourself a few times before, including being a prank master..."

"Oh, shush..." he says while giving her a playful shove "there's nothing wrong with a little self-praise or two!"

"True, and none of them are lies" she added "just don't get too full of yourself."

"Well... thanks, and I won't."

Their talk was interrupted when a fan of 'Neighbours from Hell' went up to Woody, and asked him for a autograph. Then, another showed up... and another... and yet another one. Soon enough, he got surrounded by his fans while Shelly was trying to stay away from them, but she also wanted to stay close to her sweetheart.

'What do I do?' she thought - it was very conflicting to her.

After not too long, half of the fans' attention turned to her and began bombing her with so many comments and questions. The poor girl cannot even hope to answer any of them, and it did not help at all that she is timid and socially awkward around people she does not know well enough.

"Umm…" she backed up only to bump into more people and feel trapped.

When Shelly tried to speak, she only ended up letting out incomprehensible words and feeling more tense by the anticipant inquiries. Woody did not seem to have much of a problem with them, other than he felt slightly annoyed and overwhelmed. However, he gets increasingly concerned for her, as he watches her getting more and more distressed.

Shelly froze for a few seconds until she ungracefully falls on her knees. She was invisible to numerous people for so long, the sudden enormous attention by strangers was more than too much to handle.

Everyone fell silent, not knowing how to react to the situation. Woody had to stop this!

"Hey, everyone!" he shouted "Please, all of you leave now!"

The people all walked away, most of them understood why they should while the rest expressed mild protest and disappointment. The very last people leaving were heard saying:

"Jeez... like, who knew Woody has such a bad taste in girls. Not only is she ugly, but she's also a stuck up weirdo! She only like, pretended to fall on the ground for attention!"

"But isn't she the same girl we messed with before?"

"Oh, crud... You're right! What if he has his revenge on us too for that? Like, better not upset her or something!"

It appears, they were those before-mentioned girls who bullied and teased her. Since they were obnoxiously loud, Woody overheard them clearly.

'Good!' he thought 'At least not all bullies are idiots...'

While he helps her stand up, he asks:

"Are you okay?"

She stayed silent for a moment, but then tears went down her face. Shelly stares at the ground with a pained expression, to the point where she cannot control her breathing. Kind of like a grown child who is trying to stop weeping.

Shortly, it was a really big **"NO!"**

"I'm really sorry about my fans... " he apologized "They're usually very understanding... I don't know what's gotten into them today."

"Not your fault... Don't worry..." she managed to say something while wiping her face with the sleeves of her sweater.

Out of impulse, she suddenly held the prankster tightly, which nearly threw him off-guard. But he slowly hugged her back. Right now she only needed his attention and no one else's.

"I'm so useless..." she said between sobs "even after years of trying... I'm still as painfully diffident as I was... " then her talking sped up "I couldn't even stand for more than a minute among that crowd without panicking! And..."

He abruptly made her stop speaking with a "shut up" kiss, her cheeks took on a bright red hue.

"You're none of those things... " he whispered after pulling away from the kiss but still holding her close "Anyone who think so otherwise should get an x-ray scan to see what's wrong with their heart... "

"But-"

Shelly was about to disagree until he placed his finger softly against her lip.

"Shh... Don't say anything you're beautiful in every way and that's that."

His beloved smiled at him sweetly, still blushing profusely. He touched her cheek gently.

"You know, if your face was more heated, I could fry an egg on it!" the jokester remarked.

At first, she puffed her cheeks out of annoyance, but eventually ended up giggling.

"Oh, I just remembered! I have something for you, but it's in my house! Stay here, I'll be right back!" he pulled away and scurried away inside

It took him only a few minutes to come back with bouquet of nine red roses.

"Oh? Are those for me?" she questioned, letting go of his face.

He nodded, handing the bouquet to her.

"You're so sweet! Thank you!" she said, smiling and then kissed him on the cheek.

"You're welcome, my dear. You deserve it..." he said, as he fondled her hair.

The young lady noticed that one of the roses was fake. That made her curious, so she asked him about it.

"Why don't you figure it out on your own?" he questioned rhetorically.

"Can you give me a hint then? Pretty please?" she stared at him with sad puppy eyes.

"Oh, alright... But for goodness sake, stop looking at me like that!" he could not resist, as if she was not too cute to him in the very first place "it's a special little message. It has to do with the fake flower's 'life' compared with the real ones."

Shelly stood in thought for a moment, wondering what it means. She is aware that when a flower is picked up, it starts to wilt after awhile, whereas a fake one would obviously not. With that, a realization struck her - he will love her until **all of them** wilt away. Yes, it was cheesy, but in her opinion it was clever and adorably sweet. Without uttering a single word, she started lavishing him with kisses, leaving him confused. But he undoubtedly liked it, since he was unable to hide his smile.

"I...guess you understood it?" he inquired.

She nodded in reply, then rested her head on his shoulder.

"So what do you want to do now, Shell? Do you want me to send you home or..."

A few seconds passed before she said:

"Uh... no. I want to spend the night with you at your house... "

"I'll love that!" he said, smiling brightly at the thought of waking up next to her.

They walked hand in hand, and went inside his house. It was not quite evening yet, but they both do not care. Besides, today was perhaps both fun and stressful for the young lady.

Also, it does not matter if she helps with playing pranks or not. Both of them would always be **partners in crime**.

* * *

 **Author's note: It's not suppose to end there, but I couldn't think of anything else and it's still a good conclusion anyway. If you didn't cringe reading my crummiest fanfic of them all, then I congratulate you!**


End file.
